PAHO/WHO launched the “Women’s Cancer Initiative: A joint commitment to save lives” described as a new initiative which “brings together partners from different sectors to step up action for the prevention and control of cervical and breast cancer, the leading women’s cancers in Latin America and the Caribbean.” The effort will include “joint efforts in areas including advocacy and communication; capacity building for detection, diagnosis, treatment and care in health services; improved access to services and treatment; wider vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV); and expanded research.”  PAHO said that the Women’s Cancer Initiative is being organized by the Pan American Forum of Action on the Non-communicable Diseases (PAFNCDs), which brings together representatives of governments, academia, civil society, and the private sector to fight the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases in the Americas. Members include ministries of health from throughout the Americas as well as the National Cancer Institutes Network (RINC/UNASUR), the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC), the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Basic Health International, the Canadian Partnership against Cancer, Grounds for Health, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the CIMAB Foundation, and the Global Task Force for Cancer Control in Developing Countries of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative. Other participants include the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, FEMAMA, the Albert & Mary Lasker Foundation, LIVESTRONG Foundation, the International Union for Cancer Control, NIH Foundation, JHPIEGO, the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, PATH, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Becton Dickinson & Co., Merck, Pfizer, Policy Wisdom, Qiagen, Roche, phRMA, Spectrum, and GSK.

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